Apparatus for weaving narrow fabrics such as tapes, ribbons and the like



y 15, 8 L. SCHWARTZ 2,843,156

APPARATUS FOR WEAVING NARROW FABRICS SUCH AS TAPES. RIBBONS AND THE LIKE '3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 12, 1955 INVENTOR m; im a N A W MB, LW

July 15, 1958 L. SCHWARTZ 2,843,156

APPARATUS FOR WEAVING NARROW FABRICS sucH AS TAPES. RIBBONS AND THE LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 12, 1955 INVENTOR LAWRENCE SCHWARTZ BY wp /M%Jufi/ H IS ATTORNEYS y 15, 1958 L. SCHWARTZ 2,843,156

APPARATUS FOR WEAVING NARROW FABRICS SUCH AS TAPES. RIBBONS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 12, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FlG.la.

INVENTOR LAWRENCE SCHWARTZ HIS ATTORNEYS United States Patefifo p APPARATUS FOR wEAvrNG NARROW mimics SUCH AS- TAPES, RIBBONS AND THE LIKE Lawrence Schwartz, Bronx, N. Y., assignor to Cue Fastener, Inct, Stamford, Conn., a corporation of New York Application August 12, 1955, Serial No; 527,910

7 Claims. 611139-18 This invention-relates to methods and apparatus for weaving fabrics and it relates particularly to an in'iproved high speed apparatus for weaving narrow fabrics, such as tapes, ribbons and thelike.

Heretofore, the Weaving of ribbons, narrow tapes and the like has been accomplished on shuttle or needle looms which are set up to handle and to weave narrow bands, tapes or ribbons of fabric at reasonably high production rates. The higher speed looms for narrow fabrics operate at less than 1800 picks per' minute. This is a relatively high speed but, nevertheless, it is not all that might be desired. Moreover, the complexityof the machines or overedge machines of either the'home variety or the production type toweave narrow bands and-to connect these bands'together to form Wider tapes, ribbons or strips of fabric by utilizing a series of such machines.

More particularly, sewing machines may be modified to cause the normal stitch or stitch pattern to form a narrow tape. For example, the modified machine'may include a shed-formingframe' forfeeding the warp yarns to a conventional rotary or oscillating'bobbintype of'machine in such a manner that the thread fed'bythe needle forms thefilling and in cooperation with the warp thread or yarn fed by thebobbin forms a lock stitch selvage along the edge of the tape so woven. Inasmuch as commercial sewing machines-can be operated at-speeds as high as 6000 strokes-or picks per minute, very high production rates are possible with sewing machines in' the weaving of such narrow tapes.

Conventional sewing machines of-the type described can be readily adapted to weaving operations without modifying them so greatly they cannot be quickly reconverted for ordinary sewing operations. The modification of such machines is relatively uncomplicated so that the cost of adapting a sewing-machine to aweaving operation places it well within the economic limitations -'of a smallmanufacturer or a manufacturer who requires only small amounts of tape'a'nd the like.

For a' better understanding of the present invention, reference may be'had' to the accompanying drawingin which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of atypical sewing-ma chine of the reciprocating needle type modified for" a weaving operation with parts shown' broken' away and some parts shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 1a is apersp'ective view ofa portion of'-the 'machinewith the shed forming"mechanism"removed and p 2,843,156 Patented July 15, 1958 "ice shown partly broken away to disclose the mechanism'for operating the beater finger;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of an enlarged and somewhat expanded portion of tape woven by the machine disclosed in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a schematic showing of a tape section woven by an overedge sewing machine;

I Figs 4 and 5 illustrate the assembly of a plurality of such tapes to form a wider tape;

Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration showing the manner in which the overedge tapes are joined together; and

Fig. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a series of sewing machines arranged to form and join a series of tapes to produce a single wider tape. V

In order to illustrate the present invention, it will be described and disclosed with reference to the weaving of a tape by means of a rotary bobbin sewing machine modified in accordance with the present invention. It will be understood from the following description that an oscillatingor reciprocating bobbin type of sewing machine can be similarly modified to produce woven tapes.

As shown in Fig. 1, a typical machine. embodying the present invention may include a conventional sewing machine head 10 which is driven by means of anelectric motor separate from or mounted on the head, as desired. The'head 10 is mounted on a table or platform 11*; The sewing machine head 10 includes a flywheel 12 and a reciprocating needle holder 13 of conventional type. It may also have the usual spool holder 14 or a supplemental holder (not shown) on which to receive a yarn packageor spool and the usual thread tensioning and feed elements 15. Thepresser foot is removed because it is notrequired in the present operation. Like all such machines, it includes a'countershaft 16 below the body of the headiby means of which a rotary bobbin (not shown) .isi'driven through the right angle gear box 1 7. All of the mechanism thus far described is conventional.

In accordance with the invention, I haveadded to' the sewing machine a frame 18 for supporting the yarn packages and also a shed forming frame 19 by means of which the warp threads are fed for cooperation with the sewing machine needle 20. The yarn packageframe may consist'of a base 21 havingstandards, 22' and23 thereon having outwardly projecting pegs 24' and 25 on which a plurality of yarn packages P, in this case eight, are mounted for rotation. Yarn is drawn from the yarn packages through the shed forming frame 19 which includes also a base 26, an upright 27 and swivelly mounted shed forming fingers 28 and 29 fixed to the shafts 30 and 3 1, respectively, extending downwardly through the base 26 and table 11.

The shed forming fingers 28 are staggered vertically with respect to the shed forming fingers 29 so that they can be rocked from the position shown in 'Fig. l in which the fingers 28 and 29 are substantiallyparallel, inwardly in opposite directions to a shifted position in which they are interleaved. Inasmuch as the yarns are individually supplied through the holes 32' and 33 at opposite edges of the uprights and through the eyelets 34 at the ends of the fingers, it will be apparent that the yarns can bei rrroved from the position shown in Fig.1 to a position in which the left-hand yarns, as viewed in Fig. 1, are to the right of the right-hand yarns.

Movement of the shed forming fingers 28 and 29 is accomplished in timed relation to the movement; of the sewing machine needle so that the positions of the yarns are shifted after each complete up and down stroke of the needle. Such timed movement is accomplished by mounting an eccentric 37 on the shaft 26 and connecting it by means of a crankshaft 38 and a bell crank'lever 39 mounted on thetable 11 to a link 40 which is connected eccentricallyto a gear 41 on the shaft 31. Agear 42 on the shaft 30 meshes with the gear 41 so that upon rotation of the shaft 16 oscillation of the fingers 28 and 29 occurs in proper relation to the up and down strokes of the needle.

When using a sewing machine of the type described, the needle and the bobbin coact to form a lock switch. Each up and down movement of the needle carries the yarn down and forms a lock stitch with the yarn fed by the bobbin and then moves upwardly after which the shed forming fingers change positions and the operation is repeated. As a result, a narrow strip fabric F, like that shown in Fig. 2, is produced. The strip F has, as illustrated, eight warp yarns disposed alternately on opposite sides of double weft or filling yarns which are secured at one edge of the tape by means of lock stitches S, forming a selvage edge on the tape.

The filling yarns are forced up tightly together to form a relatively tightly woven tape by means of a beater 45 which is a modification of the conventional feed dog of the sewing machine. The beater 45 has one longer tooth 46 on it instead of the serrated upper surfaces of the conventional dog so that upon gyr-ation of the beater dog, it will push the filling yarns in the direction of movement of the tape to give a firm body and tightly woven form to the tape. As shown in Fig. la, the tooth 46 of the beater 45 is carried on the presser foot 45a fixed to a shaft 45b extending lengthwise of the machine. An oscillating movement is imparted to the shaft 45b by means of a connecting rod 450 which engages a crank portion 45d on the shaft 45b and is reciprocated by means of .an eccentric 452 on the countershaft 16 of the machine. In this way, an oscillating movement of the beater 45 is provided to push the yarns together and allow the positions of the yarns to shift as described above. Counter-clockwise movement of the foot 45a moves the tooth 46 rearwardly and downwardly out of the path of the warp threads. Clockwise move-ment of the foot 45a moves the tooth 46 upwardly and forwardly against the filling yarns in the direction of movement of the tape as it is being formed.

Proper yarn tension is maintained by the riders 47 resting on the yarns between the frames 18 and 19. The riders 47 may be weighted and have small rollers 47a resting on the yarns.

A pair of idler rolls 48, 49 carry the tape away as it is woven. The rolls 48 and 49 are mounted on the bed of the sewing machine head or on a plate 50 which may be detachably secured to the bed. A 90 twist is given to the tape as it passes around another idler roller 51 mounted on bearing blocks 52 on the table 11 and the tape is drawn along by means of the inter-geared rollers 53, 54 carried by the uprights 55 and 56 on the table 11. A shaft 57 provided with a pulley 58 is driven by means of the machine flywheel pulley and a belt 59 and is fixed to the lower roll 54.

Tapes produced by the machine of the type described are relatively narrow and in order to produce wider tapes,

.it is necessary to connect a plurality of such tapes in edge to edge relation. This can be accomplished by providing a plurality of modified weaving machines of the type described arranged in series. The tape made by one machine is fed to the next succeeding machine so that its edge is caught by the lock stitch produced by the suceeding machine and is attached to the tape being woven thereby. In this Way, ribbons or tapes of substantial width can be readily produced.

While sewing machines of the shuttle type or the bobbin type are very readily modified to produce satisfactory tapes, the invention is not limited to such machines. It is possible by relatively simple modification of a conventional over-seaming or overedging machine of the type shown, for example, in the Merrow U. S. Patent No. 1,217,975 to produce tapes based on the normal stitch pattern of such machines. Principally, the modification in such overedge machines involves a release of tension of the yarn fed to the needle so that it will not pull up the loops formed by the loopers in substantially end-toend engagement. Moreover, the machine is operated without a fabric therein so that the stitches are unsupported by the fabric and thereby form a tape having a woven pattern of the type disclosed in Fig. 3 of the drawing in which the yarns are shown as loosely interwoven for purposes of illustration. As shown in Fig. 3, a tape T produced by an overedging machine has a series of undulating angularly disposed loops 60, 61, 62, etc. which are formed by the needle of the machine. Interwoven with the loops 60, 61, 62 are oppositely directed loops 63, 64, and 66 of which the loops 63 and 65 are cast by one looper while the loops 64 and 66 are cast 'by the other looper. The arrangement of these loops is such as to form a continuous interwoven tape, the looseness or tightness of which is determined by the tensions applied to the several yarns. By operating a plurality of such overedging machines and forming tapes which are fed from one machine to successive machines, wider tapes made up of two tapes T T or three tapes T, T and T or more can be made, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Thus, a tape T is woven by one sewing machine M and is fed to a succeeding machine M so that the loops formed by each succeeding machine pass through the loops of one edge of the previously woven tape to thereby join the tapes together. As shown particularly in Figs. 4 and 6, the yarn forming the loops 60, 61, 62, etc., supplied by the needle of the overedge machine passes through the edge of the tape T as the tape T is formed so that the tapes T and T are joined. Similarly, a tape T may be woven by a machine M and joined to the edge of the tape T Tapes of the type described may be used for any of the purposes for which narrow tapes and ribbons have been used heretofore and they are particularly adapted to use as the tapes for slide fasteners and the like. Due to the high production rate possible because of the high speed of commercial sewing machines, it is possible to arrange the modified sewing machines in a production line with the apparatus for forming the teeth or coils of slide fasteners and to manufacture the tapes as a part of a continuous production operation. Inasmuch as sewing machines are low in cost as compared with looms and sewing machines can be readily modified at relatively low cost for the desired weaving operation, they find a particular utility in the field mentioned as well as in many other fields.

It will be understood that other sewing machines than those described herein can be modified in a similar fashion and the number of yarns handled by the yarn package frame and the shed forming frame can be modified substantially to produce wider or narrower tapes as may be required.

Accordingly, inasmuch as machines of the type embodying the present invention are susceptible to considerable modification, it should be understood that the form of the invention described herein is illustrative and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for weaving fabric comprising :1 bobbin type of sewing machine having a reciprocating needle and a bobbin movable for cooperation with said needle, means for supplying yarns to said needle and said bobbin to form a lock stitch by relative movement of said needle and bobbin, means supplying two groups of warp yarns to said machine to form a shed at the zone of said needle, means for shifting the two groups of yarns relative to the needle to cause it to reciprocate up and down in said shed first on one side of each group and then on the other side thereby to weave the yarn supplied by the needle through said warp yarns and form a lock stitch with said yarn supplied by said bobbin.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 comprising means driven in timed relation to said needle for shifting said warp yarns after each down and up stroke of said needle to form double weft yarns in said fabric.

3. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 in which the means of supplying the yarn to form said shed comprises a plurality of yarn guides in spaced parallel rows, said guides in one row being staggered with relation to the guides in the other row, and means for shifting said guides toward and away from each other to move the yarns of one group back and forth between the yarns of the other group.

4. The apparatus set forth in claim 3 in which said yarn guides comprise groups of spaced apart fingers mounted for oscillating movement about parallel axes.

5. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 comprising a dog adjacent to said needle and having a beater finger thereon and means for gyrating said dog relative to said needle and in said shed to press the weft yarns together as the fabric is woven.

6. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 comprising'rolls for drawing said fabric away from said needle as the fabric is woven, and means for driving said rolls in timed relation to said needle.

7. An apparatus for weaving fabrics comprising a plurality of sewing machines arranged in a series; each machine having a reciprocable needle, means for reciproeating said needle, means for supplying yarn to said needle, and means for supplying other yarn to a position adjacent to said needle for cooperation therewith to produce a stitch pattern forming a narrow fabric, means for advancing the narrow fabric from one machine to position an edge thereof in the path of the needle of a next machine in the series to join the tape to the tape woven in said next machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Villa at al. Sept. 15, 1953 

